Letter-box



(No Model.) V

J. MGLANE.

LETTER BOX.

" No. 361,172. I Pat-entedApr. 12, 1887.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE JOHN MOLANE, OF MILFORD, NEV HAMPSHIRE.

LETTER- BOX.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 361,172, dated April12, 1887,

Serial No. 193,751. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN MOLANE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Milford, in the county of Hillsborough and State ofNeWHampshire, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements inLetter-Boxes; and I do hereby declare the followingto be a full, clear,and exact description of the invention, such as will enable othersskilled in the art to which itappertains to make and use the same. I

My invention relates to the construction of boxes for holding letters,cards, papers, and similar articles.

It is old to make a letter-box having a floor for the pigeon-holescomposed of wire rods, whereby the floor is made practically entirelyopen, leaving no lodging-placefor dirt or dust thereon.

My improvement consists in furnishing such a box or a series of boxeswith what I term a dust-pocket.

It is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is afront elevation of a series of pigeon-holes, showing the dustpocketclosed; and Fig. 2 a similar view showing the pocket open. I

A, 13,0, and D are pigeon-holes, provided with the open wire-rodfioorsffff.

It will be noticed that the bottom G of the entire box is but a shortdistance from the lower floor, f, and that this space is closed at oneend, or may be at both ends, by a door,- H, hinged to theface of thebottom G at i i, and adapted to be closed by a catch, l.

When my improvement is used with an ordinary post office or lock box,the casing around the front of the boxes conceals the dustpocket andtakes the place of the door on that side.

The manner of hingingthe door, or of fast ening the same when closed, isimmaterial.

By the old method of open floors in such boxes above alluded to,thelower floor extend ing through the series of pigeon-holes was solid, andthus all the dirt and dust falling from above was accumulated in thelower tier of receptacles.

My improvement keeps free all the pigeonholes from dust, and thedust-pocket can easily be cleaned, of course without disturbing thecontents of the receptacles above.

My improvement is well adapted for use in .connection withletter-carrier tables, as well Vitnesses:

J os. H. BLAoKwoon, ANDREW PARKER.

